Kashmir - A poem

KASHMIR


Lakeside sunsets

Under a mountain sky

Silence modulated,

By rolling olive trucks.



Rat-a-tat lullabies

Of distant guns

In breeze-chilled hotel nights.



Eager boatmen,

Tales of worn-out prosperity,

And discounts on smelly carpets.



Village women with

Sunken cheeks, and blank eyes

That comment.



Close to the meadows

Extra-friendly smiles

Under probing eyes.



Bunkers and bushes

On hushed evenings

In apple country

Laden with fear.



Sunny mornings

On Residency Road

Amnesiacal balms

For pains of the map.



Lotus-stem sellers

In the backyard of the Lake

Live the life eternal.

Somehow.


(c) N.Madhavan